Thornton council to consider 2025 Water Efficiency Plan estimating thousands of acre-feet in savings

Thornton City staff presented the draft 2025 Water Efficiency Plan to the City Council, saying the plan would expand existing rebate and landscape programs, add advanced metering infrastructure and adopt an updated water-loss accounting method. Laura Wing, the city’s water resources administrator, told the council the plan estimates an additional 1,251 acre-feet per year in savings from new programs and 22,322 acre-feet per year when combined with continuing programs — an amount the presentation said would be enough to supply about 6,966 single-family homes.

The plan covers city properties, residential and commercial customers, homeowners associations and irrigation accounts, and proposes targeted programs such as water-wise landscaping for HOAs and leak-notification features enabled by advanced metering. “This plan has been over a year in the making,” Laura Wing said, noting the program builds on prior plans dating to 2001 and 2018 and on past reductions in residential gallons-per-capita-per-day.

City staff told council the plan would help drought resiliency, reduce energy and treatment costs, and enable Thornton to pursue state grant funding under the Colorado Water Conservation Act. The presentation said the city will adopt the American Water Works Association M36 method for water-loss accounting and explained that water loss includes leaks, system breaks and unmetered uses; staff said pipeline replacement is a key way to reduce that loss.

Staff said the average annual operations and maintenance budget for the plan rises over the five-year period and cited an annual O&M figure presented in the briefing as about $674,000 at the plan’s later years; the plan would require additional staff — the presentation estimated four full-time employees plus one seasonal position to handle summer customer service demand. Staff also outlined outreach through the customer portal, increased commercial and HOA support, income-qualified programs and distribution system loss reduction.

Council members asked about how water savings affect rates and how the plan will reach seniors who use paper bills. Staff said near-term rate impacts would be small and that long-term savings can reduce future capital needs; staff also said they would continue direct mail for customers who lack email and would consider workshops for older residents to show online tools.

The presentation concluded with a staff request that the council consider a resolution to adopt the 2025 Water Efficiency Plan at the Aug. 12 council meeting.

Staff and council provided a range of technical and practical questions during the discussion; staff committed to returning with final materials and the resolution on the August agenda.